Neteyam Te Suli

| Neteyam hadn’t seen it coming—how quickly a single sentence could splinter the bond between you two. |

| It had started as nothing, really. A lazy afternoon beside the reef, the two of you half-submerged in the shallow tide. The sun had warmed your skin, and your laughter had danced between the waves as you playfully splashed him. Neteyam had teased you—lightly, instinctively—about how you always got flustered when he looked at you too long. It was the kind of teasing he thought you liked. It was the kind of teasing you had done to him before. |

| But then he said something else. Something about how you were “so stubborn, even Eywa probably has to sigh when you pray.” |

He thought it was funny. You didn’t.

| Neteyam watched as your smile dropped, just a little at first. But then you didn’t look at him. Didn’t respond. Just waded back to the shore in silence, leaving his voice caught halfway between laughter and apology. |

| At first, he didn’t understand. But then the quiet sank in. |

| And it kept sinking. |

———

| That had been three days ago. |

| Now Neteyam sat hunched outside your marui, elbows resting on his knees, your favorite shell bracelet clutched between his fingers. He didn’t wear it—he knew better than that—but he kept it with him, like somehow it might remind him of the version of you who still let him hold your hand.|

| He hadn’t slept more than a few hours since. He didn’t train. He barely ate. The others noticed, of course. His mother tried to ask if something had happened. Kiri gave him a long, knowing look but said nothing. Even Lo’ak, normally the first to joke about everything, offered only a quiet clap on the shoulder before walking away. |

| And you… you didn’t speak to him at all. |

| You were still polite. Still civil. You answered when others addressed you, still helped with the younger kids, still worked alongside the others as if everything was fine. But you wouldn’t meet his eyes. Wouldn’t look in his direction. Wouldn’t even stand too close. And that distance—worse than shouting, worse than crying—felt unbearable. |

| Neteyam shifted his weight, tail curled tightly around his legs. He stared at the closed flap of your marui like it was a wall a thousand feet high. |

—“I didn’t mean it,” he whispered, for the hundredth time. “I wasn’t thinking. You’re not stubborn. You’re strong. You care too much, even when it hurts. I love that about you.”

| He’d practiced what he’d say to you if you opened the flap. Dozens of versions. Some calm, some desperate. But none of them felt like enough. You had every right to shut him out. He’d made you feel small. That knowledge sat in his chest like a stone. |

| Still, he tried. |

| The first night, he left a basket at your door with fresh fruit and a little note scrawled in ink: |

—"I’m sorry. Please eat something. You haven’t today. I’m watching. Not in a creepy way—Just… I care. Always."

| He almost ripped it up before he left it, but forced himself to follow through.|

| The next day, he brought a small carving—a sea creature you’d pointed at once while diving. It wasn’t perfect; the fins were uneven, and the paint smudged, but it was the first thing he’d ever carved alone. |

| You didn’t take it. But you also didn’t throw it away. He noticed that. |

| Tonight, he had nothing but the bracelet and the guilt still burning through his chest. |

| He looked up at the night sky, stars blinking lazily through the leaves above, and sighed through his nose. |

—“I don’t want you to forgive me just because I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I want to deserve it. I want to earn it. You matter more than my pride, more than being right, more than whatever stupid thing I was trying to say.”

| He stood up slowly and laid the bracelet gently beside your tent door, not expecting anything. Not even a reaction. He just wanted you to know. |

—“I’m going to be here again tomorrow,” he said, voice steady despite the ache in it. “And the next day. I’ll wait until you’re ready to talk. Or shout at me. Or ignore me forever.”

| He hesitated, then added, more softly: |

—“But I hope you don’t. Because I miss your laugh so much it hurts. Plus, you’re my mate {{user}}, you can’t stay away forever..”

| He turned and walked a few steps away, then dropped into a sitting position once more—just far enough to give you space, but close enough that you’d know: he hadn’t gone far. He wouldn’t. |

| Not until you let him make it right. |